Anything but love
by georgiapotamia
Summary: basically a little story about Lily and James while they're in thier 7th year at Hogwarts. Not so much ohmygosh you're hot i love youfalls in love immediately because that's really not my style.I don't own anything from Harry Potter.
1. Turned down

1Chapter 1. Turned Down

This is my very first fan fiction and I would really appreciate reviews (if anyone reads it that is!) Thanks a lot and enjoy! Georgiapotamia

James pressed his forehead against the foggy glass window of the Hogwarts Express. He watched the mountainous landscape flash by, thinking. He pressed back off of the window in agitation, and looked around the compartment at his friends. The Marauders as they called themselves. James grinned to himself as he looked at them all. Sirius, doing silly little tricks with his wand and mostly looking bored, but very handsomely so. Sirius just had that look about him, and with his personality, it was no wonder girls just fell at his feet. Then there was Remus, nose buried in a book as always. He was always so calm and level headed, it almost made it funny to watch him get angry. And finally came Peter. He was curled up in the corner seat, fidgeting with his little hands, and glancing nervously about the compartment. Not at all popular, and quite the opposite if Sirius(and all ladies men in general). Sirius looked up, a crooked smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Hey Prongs, see who's outside?"

Sirius said, full out grinning now. James craned his neck to look out the small window in the compartment door. Directly across from their compartment stood a petite, slender female with a cascade of auburn hair falling down her back. Lily Evans stood there talking to her friends. James knew that this would be the year he would win her over. Sure he said that every year, but this year it was really going to happen. He had deflated his ego a lot over the summer, and the fact that he and Lily were going to be head boy and girl together this year was sure going to help too. After all they were going to be spending a lot of time together, whether Lily liked it or not. Grinning, tousling his hair, and standing up, James strutted out of the compartment and went to lean against the wall where Lily was standing talking to her friends. A group of fourth year girls gave James looks of admiration, which he ignored, his eyes set on Lily.

"Evans."

He said playfully. She looked up at him, and gave him a quick once over before coldly replying back.

"Potter."

James was slightly crestfallen at her sharp tone, but he quickly recovered, and replaced his boyish grin with a more serious look.

"Miss Evans I think it's about time we go give the prefects their instructions."

He said with a slight flourish of his hand. Lily narrowed her bright green eyes as though she was trying to detect some deception in his words. Finally she gave in and said goodbye to her friends.

Lily and James walked down the aisle a bit until they came to a relatively deserted stretch of hallway where Lily grabbed James by the arm in order to stop him.

"Now listen Potter," she said glaring him straight in the eyes. "I know that we have to spend a lot of time together this year, so I want your word that there'll be none of your asking me out business. I hope that we can be friends, but that's it. All right James?

"You just called me James."

He pointed out with a grin. Lily closed her eyes and muttered something that sounded a lot like "hopeless", and then continued walking down the hallway. The fact that Lily had just flat out said she wanted to be friends, nothing more, had hurt James beyond belief. He had been rejected by Lily Evans once again, but this time he hadn't even asked her out. It was well known at Hogwarts that James Potter had been after Lily Evans for years, and she was still to date, the only girl who had ever turned him down. Why she repeatedly turned him down, no one knew. After all, he was one of the most popular, smartest, and handsomest boys in school, and the fact that Lily tried so desperately to get rid of him only confused him more. James was ripped away from his thoughts when Lily pulled open the prefects' carriage door. James merely stood there while Lily gave out all of the instructions. He was utterly bemused. Lily had both told him to give up on her, and called him by his first name in one breath. That was probably the first time she'd ever done that, and the dearest she'd ever referred to him._ "James, James," _her voice saying his name was playing over and over in his mind.

"JAMES!"

Lily shouted. He jerked himself out of his trance and looked back at her.

"Since you can't even pay attention Potter, I'll ask you to just return to your compartment and change into your school robes."

Nothing but cold anger filled her eyes. James nodded somberly and headed back down the hall.


	2. Prince Charming

Chapter 2: Prince Charming

Lily returned to her empty compartment. For once she was glad to be alone. Her two best friends, Emily and Alison, were most likely off with their boyfriends. Well they were with _boys_ at least. Lily leaned back, rested her head against the seat, and closed her eyes. There was a throbbing pain in her temple. 'great,' she thought. 'another migraine.' Ugh. There was just something so infuriating about that pig, James Potter. Her friends were always telling her that she should just give in and go out with him.

"After all, Lily, he is the second most popular boy in school, and you're really popular too. It just makes sense. Oh my gosh plus he is _so _gorgeous!"

That's what they would always tell her. What did they know? Lily loved them more than anything, but she just couldn't trust their advice in this kind of situation. Em and Ali had a bit of a reputation. More than that, they were basically the Hogwarts whores. Sometimes they would tell Lily about the things they had done with their previous 'flings', and she would wonder how she was even friends with these people. Lily Evans was head girl for heaven's sake! But they were always so sweet, and even though they tended to be a little risque sometimes, they were really considerate. Lily knew that they couldn't live without her, and she had to say that the feelings were mutual. She loved them to death, but their advice on James was some that Lily just had to ignore. He was such a big-headed show off! They way he just_ loved_ to publicly humiliate her made her sick. But then sometimes when she saw him alone, he would give her the sweetest smile, and it would make her forget for a minute. Forget, how much of a jerk he was all the time. Lily hated to admit it, but James Potter confused the hell out of her.

"Hey, Lils!" cooed her best friend Em. She and Ali had finally returned from their little excursion.

"What's up?" asked Ali, her eyes full of concern as she looked over Lily's slouching form.

"What do you think?" said Em, shooting a knowing glance at Ali.

"Oh. Right. Heads' meeting?" Ali asked tentatively, patting Lily on the shoulder. "Was he civil at least?"

"It was so...weird. He was...he was being...nice. I mean he's never actually been mean to me, but it's like he grew a brain over the summer. For once his first instinct wasn't to ask me out in front of a crowd." Em and Ali smirked at each other, then burst into a fit of giggles. "What?" Lily asked confused. "What's the matter with you two?"

"Well, Lils, we knew it would happen one day!" said Ali through her laughter.

"We just didn't think it would be quite this soon!" Em finished. They both burst into a new fit of giggles.

"Will you tell me what you're talking about already?"

"Hun," Em started, trying to put on a serious face, and failing miserably.

"You're falling for James, darling!" Ali giggled, unable to hold it in any longer.

"That's ridiculous." Lily said. "Me with that...that...UGH! Never."

"Whatever you say, hun." Ali said still grinning. There was a loud knock at the compartment door.

"Lily?" a voice called.

"Oh well if it isn't prince charming here to pick up his princess!" Em said waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh shut up!" Lily huffed. She got up and tore open the compartment door to find a smirking James Potter leaning against the door frame.

"So I'm prince charming now am I?" James said, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise. Lily shot a withering look at Em and Ali who were now dying of laughter inside the compartment.

"Anyways," James continued, still grinning. "I _am_ here to pick up my princess as we have some final heads' duties to attend to. Shall we?" He said, offering her his arm. Lily glared at it for a good minute, then linked her arm with his, all the while either glaring at him or her friends. As the couple walked down the hall arm in arm, they attracted many whistles and cat calls from the compartments. Several times Lily tried to free her arm, but James held her tight, so she settled on a grumpy pout instead.

"Where are we going, James?" Lily asked, sounding exasperated. James just grinned.

"You'll see, my princess." He said playfully. Lily just shot him a look, but decided that he wasn't worth the argument. If James could have stopped right there in the hall and done a happy dance, he would have. But being the gentleman that he was, he decided to not to ruin the moment. Not only was he now on a first name basis with Lily, but he was also touching her. And she wasn't screaming at him for it. Albeit, it was only her arm, but it was progress. All in all James had to say that this was by far the best train ride to Hogwarts he had ever taken.

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A/n. : okay so basically here's the part of my story where the author gets desperate and needs to know if this story is good enough to even bother with more chapters. review please? i'll love all of you forever if you do!!!


	3. Misunderstandings

1**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter; wish I did but sadly, no.**

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Chapter 3: Misunderstandings

"Seriously James will you tell me where we're going?" Lily was incredibly confused. She had mentally gone through all of the heads' duties she'd been assigned, and she was still clueless as to what was left to do. Just as Lily was getting really fed up, James stopped. They were once again in a deserted section of hallway.

"Lily," James started. During the entire walk he was grinning like crazy, and strutting about, of course needing to show off the fact that he had _the_ Lily Evans on his arm. But now he was completely serious, which Lily found very unusual. She had never actually seen him being serious. He was always either sarcastically serious, or making fun of people who _were_ serious. But now was different, he looked so honest and almost vulnerable. It was very weird.

"You've already made it clear that you don't want to go out with me, and frankly, that hurt. If you really don't want to then I can try being friends, but you have to believe me, Lily, I really did change over the summer."

"Oh I bet." Lily bit off sarcastically. James just looked even more hurt and pathetic. Why wouldn't he stop that? She almost_ wished_ that he would just start smirking again, say something stupid like 'fooled ya', and go back to being some show-off jerk.

"Lily," He was speaking so softly now. She could hardly hear him. He just looked so desperate and upset. No, any minute now he would go back to being the same pompous James Potter she knew.

"I changed. You just refuse let your guard down, and see that for yourself!" James snapped. The instant the words came out of his mouth he regretted them. Lily just stood there, mouth slightly open and stared at him in disbelief.

"Lily, Lily I…"James said quickly, struggling with words. "I didn't mean it, Lily I swear it's just…I'm just so tired of fighting with you over this!" He said, tying desperately to make it up to her.

"You're right." She whispered. She said it so quietly that James almost didn't catch it.

"What?" James said, it was his turn to be shocked. Lily looked up at him, her green eyes full of realization and honesty

"I never trust people, I should have given you a chance to prove you've changed. I'm sorry, I really do hope we can be friends James." Unfortunately, James didn't hear the last part of her apology. He was so stunned to hear Lily Evans saying that _she_ was wrong about _him_ that he just tuned out the rest of what she had said. Next thing Lily knew she had James's face pressed against hers in what he hoped would turn into a romantic kiss. Not exactly. The second Lily felt his lips on hers; she pushed him away and slapped him.

"You ass!" she screamed, and pushed him even further away from her.

"But, but, I thought you said…" he stammered, surprised by her sudden anger.

"I said I wanted to be _friends_. You know you really had me fooled, James. To think I was actually angry with _myself _for not believing _you_! You. Make. Me. SICK!" she shouted at him, panting slightly afterwards. And with that she turned on her heel, and walked away.

"Great, just _great_." He muttered, walking back down the hall, going the opposite direction of Lily. "I really screwed this up. Now she's never going to talk to me. I almost had her that time! I was so close I could _feel_ her coming around to me. God, I'm such an idiot!" James muttered to himself. A few people turned to wave as he passed, but he just ignored them and strode quickly towards his compartment. The longer he walked, the angrier he got at himself, until finally he came to an empty section of hallway where he ran up and kicked the wall. Another bad decision if he had to say so himself. He grabbed his foot and mentally cursed himself for being so incredibly thick.

"You kicked, Potter?" Drawled a greasy haired seventh year boy; poking his head out of the compartment James had just kicked.

"Fantastic." Muttered James darkly.

"I always knew you were dim, Potter, but kicking walls is a new low."

"I don't have the time right now _Snivellus_." He said through gritted teeth. Snape was the last person James wanted to talk to at that moment.

"Is that _really_ the best you can do Potter? That little nickname is getting a bit old; I fear you're losing your touch. That really is a pity now isn't it?" James continued to gnash his teeth together, but resumed walking towards his compartment.

"Maybe that little mudblood is finally rubbing off-"

But Snape never did get to finish his insult. The moment the word 'mudblood' escaped his lips James threw a spell over his shoulder, and continued walking. At that moment Sirius popped out of their compartment, which was now only a few doors away.

"Oy! James, there you are mate. We're almost to Hogwarts, you'd better get your stuff together." Sirius leaned a little further out of the compartment, and saw Snape lying on the floor a little ways behind James.

"Nice." Sirius said smirking. "Full body bind, I can't believe you had a go at him without me!" James grinned; Sirius always did have a way of picking him up when he was down.

After a very long ride, the train finally pulled into the Hogsmeade station. It was pouring outside, and they had to run to get a carriage, but they managed to get the first one. Granted they pushed a ton a Slytherins out of the way, but after all they were Slytherins. The slimy gits deserved it. The Marauders made their way into the Great Hall, and took seats at the long Gryffindor table. James shook the water out of his dark, unruly hair. He scanned the rest of the table for Lily, and was eventually able to spot her. She was animatedly talking to her friends. She didn't look at all upset about the argument she'd had with James on the train. "Maybe she really doesn't care." Thought James.

Dumbledore had risen and started his speech, but James wasn't listening. Soon afterwards food appeared on the table. James started dishing himself out some potatoes, while stealing another glance over at Lily. She was now very pointedly staring at her plate, but not eating anything. James sighed and turned back to his friends. Sirius was stuffing his face, while Remus threw him disgusted looks. James couldn't help but smile a little. He would get Lily to come around; all he needed was a good plan.

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**A/N: this chapter is kind of long I don'****t really know that I like it, but there it is. Thanks so much to the people who reviewed it, and I truly do love you all! Winks**

**Sorry this chapter took a while; my computer was having issues getting it up. Next Chapter will be in Lily'****s POV. Hope you enjoyed it! --Georgiapotamia**


	4. Phase one

**Hey so sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I started this over Christmas vacation, and then, well I just got ridiculously busy. So here's a new chapter, and there are more in the works, don't worry. Hope you like**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot thank-you-very-much. [applies to all chapters**

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PHASE ONE: GET LILY TO TALK AGAIN.

However, this was not as easy as it sounded. Sure, for the rest of the Hogwarts population James Potter was synonymous with "drop-dead-gorgeous"(or so he thought), but at the moment the one girl that James wanted the most wouldn't even speak to him. That had to change.

"She has to talk to me eventually right? I mean we are heads together after all. It's bound to happen."

"Keep telling yourself that, Prongs, who knows it might even come true." Sirius replied idly.

Lily Evans. That was the only thing James had talked about for the last oh, five or so years. Recently though, he had reached a new level of obsessiveness. So, for the sake of his sanity, Sirius decided to be a good friend, and help James out. If only a little.

"James, mate, right now your biggest problem would have to be your intensity. Seriously, relax, let her come to you."

"But that's never going to—"

"Have you tried it yet?" Sirius cut in snippily.

"Well—"

"Yeah, I didn't think so. My advice would be to apologize and then lay low. Who knows maybe she'll miss you pestering her all the time. Crazier things have happened." His lips quirked up into a little smirk.

"What happens when it doesn't work, huh?" James said, giving up on arguing with Sirius.

"Then we try another strategy. Anything and everything, okay? First things first though, you need to get her to think of you as a friend. Not just as that arsehole who's been all over me since second year."

Ignoring the "arsehole" comment James replied,

"What then?"

"Then we move on to phase two."

So for the next week and a half, James went about his business trying to, as Sirius put it, "lower the intensity". He did go and apologize to Lily the next day, but he didn't get more than a "hmph" from her in reply. Since then he had tried his hardest to lay low around Lily, and it actually seemed to be working. For once in his life he caught her sneaking glances at him, instead of the other way around. Sure they had been very disapproving glances (which may or may not have had to do with the fact that he was making some very rude noises in the back of class), but they were glances. And maybe it was just wishful thinking, but he was sure that he had seen her smile the one time...

"Hey, hey Moony" James whispered to his friend across the row

"What?" Lupin replied, with just a little bit of an edge to his voice. He really did hate being interrupted during lessons, but this was important.

"Has Lily been looking at me?" James asked, with a gleam of hope in his eyes.

"To glare at your's and Padfoot's little display back there, yeah she has. Other than that, no." Lupin replied with a huff as he turned back around to face the professor.

Oh, shot down. He would get her eventually, he just had to. It was really inevitable, right?

James turned to find Sirius asleep next to him with his hair flipped partially over one eye, and just a little bit of drool leaking out of the corner of his mouth. James nudged him a little bit, and Sirius all but fell off his chair.

"What was that for? I was getting some much needed sleep there!" Sirius spouted angrily.

"I'm bored." James replied simply.

"Ugh! Get over it, I'm tired here, Prongs."

"We need to try a different method." James whispered hurriedly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sirius said, yawning.

"Lily! She seems to be doing fine without my presence right now. Really great suggestion on that one."

"Hey, I was trying to help you, no need to get your panties in a twist." Sirius yawned again and moved sideways in his chair so that his back was to James.

"Come on, mate! You told me you'd help." Sirius just swatted a hand behind him at James in response. This was just not going to do. James took Sirius's chair and gave it a hearty push. Sirius had all of five seconds to realize what was happening before he and his chair crashed to the floor.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, is there a problem?"

"No sir." said James cheerfully.

"No sir" echoed Sirius, rubbing his side. "Okay, you've got my attention Prongs." Sirius muttered when the Professor had gone back to the lesson.

"I need a different plan." James said quickly.

"Okay, so I was wrong she obviously isn't drawn to you by herself," James shot him a look, but Sirius continued in a whisper. "So you have to be around her. Not a lot! Just subtly help her out, be that really nice guy who's always there to help her out when she needs it most."

"That would work with anyone else, but she seems to be able to take care of herself." Said James, just a little bitterly.

"Trust me, Prongs. Everybody needs a little help sometimes, even Lily Evans. Just hang around her, but whatever you do, don't force it. Let it happen naturally. Before anything can even begin to happen with the two of you, she needs to see you in a good light."

"Yeah, okay, I can do that." Said James, slightly cheered at this thought.

"Good because that's about all the advice I've got for today, so if you don't mind..." Sirius trailed off as he gestured to his seat.

"Be my guest, Padfoot." James smirked over at his best friend, and with that Sirius resumed his nap.

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**What did you think? Reviews and even suggestions would be heavenly. [and i'd basically love you forever if that helps**


	5. Denial

1They always say denial is the first step. Denial of what, she wasn't exactly sure, but Lily Evans was most definitely in denial.

"I'm going insane." she muttered to herself. "Seriously, seriously insane."

It had been three hours since the kiss, and she could still taste him. And really, saying it was a kiss was an incredible stretch. Their lips barely brushed. There was something wrong with her, Lily decided.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she whispered. "This is James-the-almighty-jackass-Potter."

Tearing her mind away from James, Lily pulled a pair of pajamas out of her trunk.

"You, know what? Its sleep deprivation. That's the only possible answer. That's got to be it."

"Right," sighed Lily. Sleep. That sounded like a good plan, it had been one hell of a day, sleep was sure to straighten things out. "Right, I'll wake up, and everything will be right in the world again. It can be like today never even happened."

Except, when does the world ever really work like that?

The next morning Lily woke up knowing that it was not going to be an overall fantastic day. She could just tell. Very unfortunately, her plan had not worked at all, and if anything sleep had actually made things worse. It seemed that she couldn't get away from James even in the sanctity of her dreams. The very last thing she needed was to find him standing right outside her door first thing in the morning.

"Potter," Lily said tersely "is there a reason, you're standing outside my door at seven in the morning?"

"Of course there is." he said, flashing her a little grin that made her frown deepen a little further "Listen, Lily, I just wanted to apologize for the other day. I just completely made a fool of myself, and I wanted to make sure you knew that I meant no harm by it." he finished with a slightly sheepish smile.

"O-oh, w-well, alright then..." Lily trailed off, stuttering slightly. Had he really just apologized?

"Maybe you were wrong about him after all" said a little voice in the back of her mind. The hopeful little voice however was quickly squashed out by Lily's persistent logical side.

"Of course not, James Potter is an arrogant twit now, and always."

Over the next few days Lily surprisingly didn't see much of James. Maybe he had finally taken the hint? Whatever it was that had gotten him off of her back, Lily was relieved beyond belief. Potter was now just one less stress to deal with.


End file.
